Already attending linux.conf.au? Come a couple of days earlier and attend the mini-DebConf too! There will be a day of talks with a strong focus on the Debian project and a bug squashing day.

Debian Miniconf

After 5 years, the Debian Miniconf is back! Run as part of linux.conf.au 2015, this event will attract speakers talking on topics that suit the broader audience attending LCA. The Debian Miniconf has been one of the largest miniconfs in the history of linux.conf.au.

Tuesday, January 28. 2014

Back in the old days, we had workstations. And only workstations. They lived on a network, and having them work in that network was simple. Printers just worked (thank you printcap), network shares just worked (thank you NFS) and life was good.

Then along came laptops. We wanted to be more mobile, using our laptops on different networks or even without a network! No one wanted hardcoded printers anymore, or network shares defined in /etc/fstab. Using an Automounter was an option, but if you were on a different network then having the Automounter around would stall tools like nautilus and file indexers etc.

So we need something which can start up relevant services when you connect to a network, and then stop them when you leave that network.

To support this, a few years ago I wrote a NetworkManager dispatcher.d script to do just that. When you connect to a specific network (using the NetworkManager UUID or a specific gateway MAC) or a VPN connection then autofs is started, users GTK bookmarks have any bookmarks for their Network shares added and CUPS is restarted.

When the connection goes away, then autofs is stopped, any GTK bookmarks for the Network shares are removed and any mounts for the Network shares are lazily unmounted.

The linux.conf.au 2014 papers committee is looking for a broad range of proposals, and will consider submissions on anything from programming and software, to desktop, mobile, gaming, userspace, community, government, space and education. There is only one rule:

Your proposal must be related to open source

This year, the papers committee is going to be focused on linux on the frontier and deep technical content-- that might range from cybernetics and mobile operating environments to large astronomy projects and big data projects.

However, the conference is to a large extent what the speakers make it -- if we receive many excellent submissions on a topic, then it’s sure to be represented at the conference. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

The Cloud - What is it, how can we use it and why is it running on my toaster?

LCA is known for presentations and tutorials that are strongly technical in nature, but proposals for presentations on other aspects of free software and open culture, such as educational and cultural applications of open source, are welcome.

The conference will showcase the best of open source and community-driven software and hardware. It will be held in Canberra at the Australian National University from Monday 28 January to Saturday 2 February, 2013, and provides a great opportunity for open source developers, users, hackers, and makers to share their ideas and further improve their projects.

Information on Proposals

The linux.conf.au 2013 papers committee is looking for a broad range of proposals, and will consider submissions on anything from programming and software, to desktop, userspace, community, government, and education. There is only one rule:

Your proposal must be related to open source.

This year, the papers committee is going to be focused on deep technical content, and things we think are going to really matter in the future -- that might range from freedom and privacy to open source cloud systems or to energy efficient server farms of the future.

However, the conference is to a large extent what the speakers make it -- if we receive many excellent submissions on a topic, then it’s sure to be represented at the conference.

These services used to have IPv6 enabled, but when I moved them from my home server to one hosted in a data centre we lost IPv6 support. However in the last few months, our hosting company has deployed IPv6 support to their hosting facility, and I finally found time to finish setting it up on the server.

Awesome. I've just registered for lca2011, it looks to be an awesome conference! They have a great line up of speakers, some amazing venues (I know, I've seen some of them already), and a fantastic group of people in one place.

The reason that I've already seen some of the venues is that Susanne and I attended the ghosts weekend that the lca2011 Ninjas held earlier in the year. During the ghosts weekend the current organising team bring a number of previous organisers, some people from Linux Australia and their team into one place, lock them in a room and absorb as much information as they possibly can. They bombard us with questions, they tease out tidbits of knowledge and in exchange for that they let us into a few of their secrets and show us around. Admittedly they show us around and then interrogate us on what we think of them.

That was my first time in Brisbane, and an overnight stay is no where near long enough. I'm looking forward to spending a week in Brisbane, and hopefully getting a chance to take in a bit more of the city. As much of a chance as you get when attending a conference that is though...

Sunday, June 20. 2010

So Andrew and I have decided to finally build on the section we've owned since 2004.

We don't tend to take decisions lightly. So in coming to this decision, over the years we've spoken to: 2 Architects, 3 Designers, 1 Draughtsman and 4 Design and Build Companies. Not to mention the hours of online research, visits to suppliers, reviewing pamphlets and checking out showhomes etc. I've also had hours upon hours of fun coming up with 30-odd designs using Inkscape - The BEST free and open source vector drawing software available.

Having just spent 18 months project managing a major international 7 day conference, linux.conf.au 2010, we decided we would not project manage the house build. So, we've decided to go with a design and build company. We took their design and tweaked it (using Inkscape) to better suit our section, and came up with this:

Now we have the design, it's time to work out how we're going to pay for it. Thanks to our mortgage broker, we're now pre-approved to value x. The Design and Build company has estimated the pricing as x minus $5,000. The only way to get the actual price is to draw up the working drawings, which of course costs money. So here's hoping the Design and Build company is accurate in their indicative pricing!

So to help the build fit the budget, we've started looking into supplying some of the materials ourselves and getting in our own tradesmen...I find myself wondering, if something looks like project managing the build and smells like project managing the build, is it not project managing the build? Sigh. We may be in for a long 3 months (apparently the build will take only 3 months, but I will not hold my breath).

A while back, we were lucky enough to be introduced to a man who owns a subdivision down the road from us, who happens to have a hole that he needs to fill. Conveniently, our section is made up of the kind of rock that fills holes in subdivisions. So naturally, we struck a deal and lodged an application for resource consent to complete some earthworks on the site. The Council should be granting the application any day now. So we've had to move fast on the build process so that we'll know what earthworks to do as soon as the application is granted.

So to help us with the build so far, we have:

A design and build company, who has provided the... initial design we based our custom design on, and who will provide... some of the materials and... some of the tradesmen

A Mortgage Broker, who has sorted out the funding;

An Engineer, who is ready to go out on the site to check the stability of the build platform and to advise us of the gradients of the land for the earthworks;

A Valuer, who is valuing the plans.

Next on the list, a surveyor, who will tell us the topography of the land.

Saturday, May 29. 2010

There have been many things about becoming parents that have surprised us. There are also been things from organising LCA2010 that have surprised us. One of the more surprising things that is that Susanne has become more of a geek.

Not terribly surprising really, that after co-directing one of the ultimate geek conferences that you'd pick up a few things. Not only is Susanne now an expert Inkscape user, she is now at home hacking HTML, writing using LaTeX, posting on Twitter & identi.ca, using request tracking systems and last but not least IRC. IRC was vital to organising LCA, but Susanne and I have continued to use IRC now that LCA is over to chat while I'm at work, and as it turns out around the house. For example:

The funniest part was that, even though I was using my laptop, my IRC client wasn't running. My IRC proxy was happily logging those requests, so when Susanne was cracking up with laughter (thinking I was ignoring her) I was able to catch up on what was happening...

One of the things that people may not realise, is the number of meetings that go into putting together a linux.conf.au. Currently we have fortnightly meetings (but only one to go!) so that everyone can be kept up to date on where things are, what (if any) issues there are in the various areas and to generally have a chat.

The photo here's a typical LCA2010 organising meeting. The scones aren't typical - they were made by Andrew & Heather's son Max, who you can see through the door (they were certainly appreciated, thanks Max!). We've been using the training room at Catalyst as a handy location in town that easy for people to get to, and tucked out of the way.

Also not visible in the photo are Susanne and our son Adam, and Heather who's taking the photo.

Sunday, September 20. 2009

The newest addition to the Ruthven family shot into this world with great gusto and enthusasim on Thursday morning. Dad was in great shock at being woken up at 2:20 am, when contractions began, then a mere 2 hours later at 4:32 holding his son - Adam Robert Ruthven. Mum was in even greater shock at arriving at the hospital to be told that she was ready to push!

Mum & Dad are both incredibly proud of Adam, weighing in at 3.6kg (7lb 15oz).

Dad & Brooke brought Mum & Adam home on Friday morning, where we've had to readjust to once again having sleep deprivation.

Brooke is thoroughly enjoying having a baby brother. She is being a perfect big sister, helping us care for Adam, even helping with nappy changes! (We're hopeful this will continue...)

Busy times, and it is only going to get busier, when I first wrote this article on Monday, Susanne was 39 weeks pregnant, not long to go now on that front... It turns out I was right, she gave birth to Adam Robert Ruthven this morning. More news to follow soon.